The Legend of Chief Cliff Traditional Cache
The Legend of Chief Cliff
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Naturally-camouflaged film cannister along Old Hwy 93, with a safe view of Chief Cliff.
Chief Cliff, about five miles west of Flathead Lake and directly north of the town of Elmo, is at the end of a ridge which extends for about ten miles. At the east end, the ridge breaks off abruptly with an almost perpendicular cliff about 150 feet high. At the bottom of the cliff is a semicircle of loose and broken rock.
Years ago, an aged chief of the Kootenai felt that he no longer had control of his band. In his younger years he had done many deeds of bravery and many acts of generosity, but now the young men in his band did not care to hear about them. He had laid down rules of conduct which were for the betterment of his people, but the young men and women now gave no heed to them.
The old chief was sick at heart because of the changing ways and because of the young people’s neglect of him. One summer when his people were camped at the base of the cliff, he dressed himself in his finest buckskin and in the headdress which showed his deeds in war. He arrayed his favorite horse in a richly decorated saddle blanket and put on him his best buckskin saddle.
Then he mounted his horse and, sitting erect and proud, rode to the top of the ridge and along its crest to the edge of the cliff. Seeing him up there, everyone in the camp stopped his work or his play and watched in wonder.
When all were looking up at him in silence, the old man began to address them in the strong tones of his younger years: “Hear me, my people. My heart is heavy with grief because you have forgotten the teachings of your elders. You have forgotten their brave deeds and their generous acts. The stories about them –stories which have been handed down for generations as examples for young people to follow—you now pay no attention to. Soon they will be forgotten. ….I will make one last effort to remind you of the bravery and the wisdom of your grandfathers.”
He turned his horse and rode slowly back along the ridge. Suddenly, he wheeled around and urged the horse at full speed back toward the cliff. In wonder and then in horror, the people below watched him, noting that he was singing the death chant. Still chanting, he rode on beyond the edge of the cliff. Horse and rider turned over and over among the rocks at the foot of the ridge.
That evening there were no games or gambling or laughter around the campfires. All spoke in subdued tones or listened in silence to the old men of the tribe. One after another they arose and paid tribute to their dead leader. The young men and young women, the boys and girls, all listened with pride in their hearts. “He was a greater chief than we knew,” they said among themselves.
“It is well for us to respect the old people for what they have done,” the young people said. “We must not overlook any of the old ones. We, too, will be old someday. We will remember the brave deed and the wise counsel of the good chief. The cliff will always remind us of him.”
That is why the cliff is called Chief Cliff. And that is why the Kootenai, ever since, have remembered to treat their old people with kindness and with honor.
Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies by Ella E Clark, 1966, Univ. of Okla. Press. (visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
N yvggyr zbff arire uheg nalbar.
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